here is some news before I comment:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tech...
You do have a point.. in other words
1) disruptive technology keeps the world going forward,
2) econet uses and offers VOIP and
3) yes Skype usage could be a good revenue stream for bandwidth providers including telcos like econet.
It might be good to remember that skype only started making sense in Zimbabwe when telcos started investing in fibre using revenue from voice and they still have a long way to go as not many of their clients can do video calls because networks are still under construction. As much as we may want these services..... Skype will not fund our network development though we get skype via some network.
Telone/PTC was a local feud and a local won and everyone was happy.
My argument is not on whether or not we adopt a technology but its about methodology, pride and incubating a local solution(not necessarily reinventing the wheel) that develops the local people so that they do not continue on a cut and paste kind of consumerism but also count as solution providers.
My google/french link demonstrates my view where it is important to adopt solution policy in such a way that local people benefit and get a chance to develop themselves....
Internet turned our world into a so called 'global village' connected by multiple bidirectional highways and its no secret that most highways lead to the west (US and Europe) with huge and expensive carriageways with countless 'lanes'(STMx) much more than links among ourselves and we all know where all the traffic goes. Some countries have been demonized for putting in place seemingly restrictive policy to these highways but has anyone not noticed that they have in the process made their own local billionaires comparable to the likes of Mark and larry with similar services.
Here is my line of thinking:
-Pride in our brands
-People skills development
-International presence and recognition
I use plenty imported technology if not 99% but because my pride has been battered so much I can hardly see or find myself in this village, I'm looking at how policy can effect some change to protect the little local hope I have so I can find somewhere to start because I may never get a chance to walk into a Skype Data Center to see whats going on.
All flaws, mistakes and shortcomings of our telcos are our only learning experience, the last thing I need is AT&T barging in to give me a service without transferring any skills rendering me a USER.
My Pride = I love Econet|Telone|ZOL|Techzim|Utande|Telco because these guys teach me a lot.
